Gazing in the Congo (DRC): the dark heart of Africa (2006-2017)

[carl]

"A new insurgency is imminent, a new way to win posts and money."

Whenever the FARDC (the regular Congolese Army) can't handle a revolt or armed flareup, which is almost never, the gov. is in the habit of buying the leaders of the revolt off with a high rank or command of a military district.
So, if you are an ambitious leader with some men to command and you want to better yourself; you command your men to go forth and make trouble. They generally make trouble by murdering innocent people in the area.

Then, the gov. responds by giving the ambitious leader a high rank and a command in the army that was too weak to beat him.

[Stan]

Drugs, cannabis and alcohol are the main cause of unrest in Ksai Occidental. Lots of civilians and soldiers have been arrested in Kananga and the ops are to be extended to the whole province in order to dismantle the supply chains and eventually destroy cannabis plantations. Cannabis yields more cash than maize, so farmers prefer it regardless the devastating effect on the youth. The same phenomenon is observed in Bukavu. In Goma, locally distilled whisky is sold everywhere and it has a negative effect on motorcyclists and cause traffic accidents at any time.

Thanks for the post Carl !
Even as early as 85 cannabis was the preferred crop. It however then had little effect on the locals, it was just business and the Peace Corps and other Groupies would buy whatever was available.

Sad, it appears to have replaced a Simba lager. Worse yet, the Zäirois back then rarely (intentionally) did something to harm younger children. As many as four generations in one household, but the kids were safe (relatively speaking).

On a final note, I don't recall any of the locals driving without causing traffic accidents, and can only imagine doing said on distilled whisky.

[Tom Odom]

The new 60 member government, of which 9 are women has urgent tasks. One of its first tasks will be to tackle unrest causes by making security priority number one. Army, police and justice should be given relevant means for deep reformation otherwise all the other actions will be groundless. The government has new faces in it, but no one from rebel groups namely RCD and MLC.

Disarmament of foreign negative forces is a Monuc mandate. The Lords Resistance Army fighters are based in northern DRC (Congo) with a certain Vincent Otti who has decided to resume hostilities from southern Sudan where Joseph Kony (Lords Resistance Army warlord) is still hiding.

The reason for this change is that negotiations are stuck and Kenya has rejected a proposal to host them. Uganda might find it a good reason to cross the boarder into DRC (Congo) and hunt them down. Another group is an ADF/NALU coalition hiding at the foot of Rwenzori mount. The worst of negative armed group is that of Hutu (Rwandan) fighters scattered in the east from South Kivu to North Kivu, their sanctuary stretches at the edge of the Congo jungle. They often mix with Mai Mai tribal warriors ; the Alpha and Bravo mixed brigades are mandated to fight them.

Heavy shelling were reported yesterday morning in the area of Nyamilima-Ishasha to stop an attack of FDLR (Hutu hardliners) and Mai Mai coalition, the 8th military region did not confirm the fights. There is fear of reprisals among the locals who're alleged to cooperate with those negative forces.

Colonel Delemba of Baleine brigade was killed yesterday night when his residence was attacked by tribal warriors faithful to his rival, Colonel Lafontaine. Baleine brigade troops gathered in Bingi town (south west of Butembo) waiting for integration. Civilians have fled to neighbouring towns.

"Army, police and justice should be given relevant means for deep reformation" means they need to be paid. Who gets paid and who does not is the real issue.

The LRA has been a growing threat in the past 2 decades or so; it is very much an armed cult that the Ugandan government and its supporters finally started to take on while my the guy who replaced me in Rwanda, Rick Orth, later served as DATT.



Best

Tom

[Tom Odom]

Latest from Carl in K-town

Heavy shootings were heard in Nyabushongo (west of Goma town) when police and army tried jointly to disperse rioters following stabbing of a young man by a neighbour because that one used his private latrine without permission. The stabbed man is admitted in DOCS (Doctors on Call for Service) for emergency care. Revengeful angry mobs destroyed who houses before torching the rest of the buildings.
An appeals court in Bas-Congo has called on the DRC's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to organize a second round of polls for the positions of governor and vice governor of the province. The first round of polls to the positions of governor and vice governor for the two Kasai have been rescheduled for Thursday, February 15.

The Mission has deployed a mobile operations unit to South Kivu, which has been beset by unrest even since the formal end of the country's civil war in 1999, to help maintain public order. Military Operations Commander in Ituri district announced that FNI militiamen have fled deeper in Katanga forest instead of surrendering to the army for quick integration.

A miner found a 143-carat diamond in a river in Congo and sold it for $1.4 million, an official said Saturday. Amos Maseko discovered the stone in a river near Banalia, 129 km north of Kisangani, where usually only diamonds of between one and three carats are to be found, the president of the Congolese Federation of Gold and Diamonds, John Tokole told UN radio Okapi. The diamond was cheaply sold to a Lebanese subject because its real value is supposed to $4 million by officials contradicting Kisangani governor who was involved in the deal. Rudimentary mining attracts many minors to resorb unemployment. Those mining sites attract also children, drug consumers and mafia dealers; the main cause of unrest in such places.

A Border Security Force contingent will on Tuesday leave on a peacekeeping mission to Congo. The contingent, consisting of seven officers and fourteen subordinating officers, will be stationed in Lubumbashi and will assist in restoration of law and order for creating a conducive atmosphere for holding of elections.

The choice of Lubumbashi is probably related to illegal mining, mineral smuggle including cobalt and uranium.

[Tom Odom]

More from Carl in K-Town

There is trouble related to dual nationality for some Congolese officials at high level.
The crisis started when a report about two governor candidates being British and
Belgian in addition to their birth Congolese nationality at the same time, so the polls
were rescheduled in the two Kasais. According to the law, being Congolese is exclusive.
If one acquires new nationality, he loses the Congolese one. The National Assembly decided
in a plenary session yesterday that the matter be discussed a bit later to give who illegally hold
the nationality illegally to decide and sort out the situation in time. The decision was wise because
the motion was tabled by opposition seemingly to cause similar trouble to those who accused the
two candidates to governorship. The number of Congolese officials holding their birth nationality illegally
has incredibly increased these years of unrest. Let's wait and see how many will have complied with the
law when investigations start.

[Tom Odom]

From Carl in K-Town

The South African government cautioned Wednesday that an early withdrawal of peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo could reverse gains made since the end of a five-year war in 2003. South Africa has around 2,000 troops serving in MONUC, which mainly consists of soldiers from African armies.

The United Nations appealed on Tuesday for fresh funds to help nearly 100,000 Congolese refugees go home this year, but said continuing violence prevented returns to the eastern part of the DRC. Some $47 million of its $62 million appeal is earmarked for the voluntary repatriation programme, with the remaining $15 million aimed at providing aid to 1.1 million people uprooted within Democratic Republic of Congo.

A train derailed anda t leat twenty passengers died in the town of Mokambo (south east of Lubumbashi) in Katanga province. Congolese National Railway officials told AFP that all those killed were stowaways. When DRC got independence, the railway network was one the most important in Africa, now travelling by train is so hazardous that losses (of lives and goods) are often registered. Tons of food stored by WFP in Lubumbashi cannot be carried to the starving population when airlifts are too costly to the organosation.

Investigations are being carried on by different commissions to find out the cause of last riots in several towns in Bas Congo province. On a different site, at least 250 houses were torched and one person killed in land dispute in Kasai Oriental province (60 km south of Mbujimayi).

Insurgents faithful to renegade general Nkunda are alleged to be recruiting new fighters in Ngungu (Masisi territory). Monuc observed the same recruitment in Tongo where demobilised troops are being conscripted intothe army by a certain Saddam, mixed battalion commander in Tongo. Furthermore, some residents at Karibu hotel preferred to move because Gen Nkunda was alleged to be among the customers this weekend.

[Tom Odom]

From Carl in K-Town

Highlighting that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to pose "a threat to international peace and security in the region," the Security Council yesterday extended the UN mission in the impoverished DRC for another two months. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Congolese authorities to focus on security sector reform and tighten up legislation covering business practices relating to diamond and other minerals to avoid funding armed groups.

The Democratic Republic of Congo faces disaster if United Nations peacekeepers are withdrawn too soon, international aid agency Oxfam warned on Friday. "Without a substantial and effective MONUC presence, the security situation -- which is currently fairly stable -- could soon unravel," Juliette Prodhan, head of Oxfam in the DRC, told Xinhua news agency in Nairobi

When a significant step is made toward democracy by electing 10/11 governors all over the DRC, one minister of the current cabinet resigned before reporting himself. His resignation letter was presented by his party president. Later on three individuals showed up under the same name of Kasongo Ilunga based in Kinshasa, Kalemie and Lubumbashi respectively.

In an effort to pacify the town of Goma, the army has collected more than five hundred weapons in less than a month. The collection started mid January when army officials noticed that some officers preferred to hide in Goma with bodyguards involved in various blunders. All the officers without posts have been ordered to go to Kamina for proper integration.

Security is a major concern in the Grand Nord as well where a Belgian building contractor and farmer (Claude Duvigneaud or Duvignon) was killed at his residence yesterday night together with his guards. Nothing was stolen except his computer laptop.